Is Sky Q worth it? My Sky Q Review

Sky is the biggest satellite TV provider in the U.K. Most people will probably have heard of Sky’s latest offering In 2016 – Sky Q. With Sky Q you can record 3 shows while watching a fourth or even record four and watch a fifth with the 2tb box. A big feature for Sky Q is that you can start watching something on one box and carry on watching it in another room with multiroom. When you purchase Sky Q you get a main box and if you opt for multiroom you also get one or more mini boxes. My favourite thing is that you can access recordings on any box. From looking at Sky’s website it appears that Sky Q is replacing the Sky plus HD box as I cannot see it mentioned anywhere and the sky sign up bundles offered only name the Sky Q box. We have had Sky Q for 3 months now and I thought I would offer my personal review of Sky Q.

So seeing as our yearly sky contract was coming to an end and we were moving house we decided to look at any offers Sky had. It looked like Sky Q was the best option as surprisingly it worked out cheaper than sky plus and we wanted Sky in several rooms. The mini boxes work wirelessly off the main boxes so there is no need for cabling which I think is a huge plus. We managed to find a code for 60% off (found on moneysavingexpert website but can no longer find) and got free broadband with Sky Sports. We opted for the main Sky Q box and four mini boxes and had to pay a one off payment.

On installation day the engineer gave me a quick demo on how to navigate Sky Q and it did take a little getting used to, particularly the menu as you scroll across to access each menu instead of downwards. We were given 2 remote controls for the main Sky box and one for each mini box. One of the main box remote controls is different from the others as it has a touch pad at the top replacing some of the buttons. I have to say I find this one hard to use, the touch pad seems to be very sensitive and I find it really hard to navigate the menus with it. If you accidentally even brush it seems to do something to the sky q and many a time I’ve wanted to throw it out the window!

So we were all setup with sky and enjoying all the extra features when after about a week we started to encounter a problem. We would be watching TV when suddenly the picture would shrink so would fill about a quarter of the screen and the rest of the screen would be black. I rang sky after a few weeks of the problem occurring and eventually spoke to somebody who resolved the problem by getting me to turn all the mini boxes into eco mode. Eco mode which means the box switches to a lower power mode at night and the agent told me the fault we had was a known issue where the standby mode conflicts with the main box and the problem is resolved by putting them all in eco mode. If anyone is having the same issue you can change the standby mode by selecting Settings – Setup – Preferences – Standby Mode. Touch wood but we have not had that problem since.

My overall opinion of Sky Q is mostly positive as I like many of its features. Some things I like about Sky Q are;

Huge Memory for Recordings – The 1TR box has 500 hours of recording memory and the 2TR box has 1000. With our old Sky plus box we would frequently get down to less than 5% disk space remaining but so far we haven’t got anywhere close to that and we record a lot!

Easy to find more episodes – From the planner it is really easy to find more episodes of the same show by selecting the show and then scrolling to the right and selecting more episodes. You can then see a list of episodes that are available on demand and also on that week.

Easy to find kids Programmes – From the main menu there is an option named ‘Kids’ From there you can see pictures of a huge amount of kids shows making it really easy to find something for my 3 year old to watch!

Sky Q app – Anyone with Sky Q is able to download the sky Q app for free on a tablet or phone which allows you to watch live TV on Sky anywhere plus recordings when at home.

No cables for the mini boxes – Who wants annoying cables in the way? The wireless connection of the mini boxes also make it easier to move their location.

Watch recordings on any box – You can access the planner and watch shows from any box. You can also be watching something different to another person on another sky box.

Better Menu design – I really like the design of the menus on Sky Q, Its easier to find what you’re looking for and I like that Shows are displayed with images in the menu rather than just a list.

Automatic Series Link – Whenever you select something to record, it automatically adds series link instead of having to add it manually.

Possible negatives to Sky Q;

You may be more likely to encounter problems with the newness of Sky Q. The issue I described earlier was apparently a common one and was resolved after a software update a few months ago and with turning the boxes to eco mode. With Sky Q being so new there could be glitches to the sky q software that have to be resolved with more software updates. I’ve not experienced any other problems apart from getting the dreaded No Satellite Signal message, although this turned out to be caused by our dish not the boxes.
Price – Lets face it Sky isn’t cheap! There do seem to be some good offers available at the moment though for both new and existing customers and quite a few bundle options.
Sky are currently offering an incentive for referring a friend where both parties get £125 on a pre paid mastercard. If anyone wants to join Sky and receive the £125 then please email me at onewagefamily@hotmail.com and I can provide a code.

Overall I would say Sky Q was worth getting. Sky Q still has my favourite features such as Sky Box Sets and Catch up but also some great new ones. I’m grateful for the extra memory available on Sky Q so I can record whatever I want without worrying about deleting other stuff. The Sky Q app is also an added bonus and a lot of people would find the ability to watch Sky on the go very appealing. I would say one of the biggest benefits of Sky Q is multi room. There is no worry about drilling holes in the wall and having extra cabling installed which makes having multiple boxes easier. Sky Q definitely appears to be the future in satellite television.

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Hellooo I'm Charli, a mum of one who has always been interested in saving money! I have been a stay at home mum for 4 years and have learnt of many ways to earn money from home. My other interests include Travel, Home Décor and Sleep :)